A Labor of Love & Art

Corry Dekker, Owner

Medicine not only birthed a life-long career but a budding relationship that still flourishes between Dino and wife Corry, who leads up vaccine clinical research at Stanford University. Corry specializes in vaccine safety and puts those skills to work regularly as an advisor to the Center for Disease Control. At Stanford she has overseen vaccine trials and regularly leads adult lecture series and discussions for the field.

The couple bonded over biotechnologies at Chiron, each making strides in their own right. With a background in pediatrics she went on to become, as Dino puts it, "The Queen of Flu Vaccines." Corry has worked with the National Institute of Health (NIH) in response to national emergencies and a variety of disease areas varying from smallpox to malaria, and the recent H1N1 outbreak. Her team works tirelessly to keep the public informed on prevention.

Dino Dina, Owner

Dino's Italian heritage all but ensured a wine and farming way of life, through it wasn't his only calling, at least initially. Prior to officially getting into the "grape game" in 1997, Dino studied at the University of Genoa where he uncorked a passion for the scientific aspects of medicine, which led him first to Switzerland and then the U.S. for his work with virus and infectious disease.

With some "serendipity and luck" (Dino's words) his move to the West Coast coincided with the region's biotechnology boom. Turns out the yeast used in biotechnology is the same type used in wine fermentation. A wine country way of life planted its seeds.

Dino went on to establish the Vaccine Group at the biopharmaceutical company, Chiron Corporation, and ultimately to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer at Dynavax Technologies from 1997 until his retirement in 2013.

A wine-ward way of life for Corry and Dino means a "refuge of relaxation" in the mountains where the closest connections with the outside world are the family's four legged friends, Galileo and Tobias.

Mia Klein, Winemaker

When it came time to select one of the vineyard's most important "pairings" Dino looked to Mia Klein as winemaker: A seasoned veteran in the Napa Valley for almost thirty years. After earning a degree in enology from UC Davis, she went on to work at Chappellet and Robert Pepi, then consulted for esteemed wineries including Spottswood, Araujo Estate, Viader, and Dalla Valle. She created her own private label wine, Selene, in 1991. Her signature "move" in winemaking comes down to "place" and terrior, each equally important, each contributing factors in her decision to join the Cimarrosa team in 2009. She enjoys the diverse terrain of the property, which goes from flats to steeps with varied temperatures and plays of sun exposure.

From Mia's view, "Dino and I are the 'right' kind of crazy: Equally passionate about wine and the property. You want to be with someone that places quality first. Dino does."

Beth Pryor,General Manager

Beth's road to Cimarossa was paved with one sentiment "accidentally" in mind—city girl gone country! A number crunching way of life seemed eminent with a degree in mathematics from the University of Connecticut, but not for Beth. The city soon beckoned, and so began a fruitful career in hospitality and management in some of New York City's hottest food haunts. It was there that Beth was bitten by the wine bug.

A vacation detour to Napa Valley in 2004 ultimately led to a cross country move, where she officially fell in love with the valley and made it her permanent home.